I Became a Game Character in the Apocalypse

Lee Jung-woo didn’t head toward the barricaded main entrance but instead toward the circular staircase leading to the back door.

Due to the low foot traffic, iron bars were installed between the first and second floors. He vaguely recalled that it had been done to prevent students from running off without paying at the adjacent pool hall on the second floor, as seniors had once told him.

Since there were iron doors separating the stairs and hallways on each floor, they decided to skip the fourth and third floors and focus on clearing the second floor first.

When they reached the iron door to the second floor, Lee Jung-woo turned back and spoke in a low voice.
“Everyone, focus.”

I nodded and drew the hunting knife holstered at my leg. The rest of the group gripped their weapons tightly, swallowing hard as they watched Lee Jung-woo’s every move.

Carefully, Lee Jung-woo unwrapped the microphone cord tied to the iron door and slowly opened it.

Creak—

His eyes widened, and he quickly shut the door again before turning back to us. He motioned for me, the last in line, to go upstairs.

Once we hurried up to the fifth floor, the others followed swiftly. Lee Jung-woo rubbed his forehead as he stepped into the fifth-floor hallway.

All eyes were on him as he clicked his tongue and muttered, “We can’t get in. There are too many.”

“How many are there?”

“The hallway is packed. There’s no room to step.”

As Lee Jung-woo frowned, Choi Hyun asked from behind him, “Hyung, do we have any food left?”

Lee Jung-woo glanced at Jeong Jin-young, who must have been in charge of food. Jeong Jin-young scratched his eyebrow awkwardly before answering.
“Not a bite. All we’ve got are eight 500ml bottles of water.”

The group’s expressions turned grim. Clearing that hallway seemed unavoidable.

I stroked my chin, pondering. It was early morning, with the mist only covering the first floor. There was no need to worry about their sense of smell; only their vision and hearing were a concern.

Turning to Choi Hyun, I asked, “Hyun, how many fire crackers do we have left?”
“Just one.”

One fire cracker wouldn’t be enough to lure all the zombies on the second floor. With no other options, I pulled out my phone to check the remaining battery—8%. Enough to set an alarm.

Lee Jung-woo looked at me, puzzled. “Got a plan?”
“First, we clear the third and fourth floors.”
“Why there?”
“If there are too many zombies on the second floor, we can’t just charge in. We need to expand our range of movement first.”

“To get to the third and fourth floors, we’d have to use the main staircase. What if the noise draws the zombies from the second floor?”

“We lure them away.”

When I answered matter-of-factly, Lee Jung-woo furrowed his brow, saying nothing. I took the fire cracker from Choi Hyun and set an alarm on my phone as I explained, “We need to cause a commotion on the first floor to make the zombies on the second floor head downward.”

“How do you plan to do that when we can’t even pass the second floor?”
“We’ll throw the firecracker through the stairwell from the fifth floor. The sound will draw the zombies to the first floor. Then, I’ll toss my phone outside with the alarm set.”

“Outside?”
“If we only set off the fire cracker, the zombies outside the building might enter. Tossing the alarm outside will make the zombies near the old student union building leave the vicinity.”

The group seemed to understand. But Jeong Jin-young, still skeptical, tilted his head. “But after we clear the second floor, won’t the zombies from the first floor come back up? Fighting on the stairs will cause a lot of noise.”

“We need to attack the second floor from both the main staircase and the circular staircase at the same time. That way, the zombies’ attention will be divided.”

“The main staircase is fine, but how do you plan to attack the circular staircase when it’s impassable?”

“We’ll tie the microphone cord to the doorknob. That way, even if zombies push on the iron door, it’ll only open slightly.”

“You want to attack through the small gap?” Jeong Jin-young scoffed.

It was risky, but it was the safest option. “The pile of zombie corpses in front of the door will block others from breaking through. We need to reduce their numbers.”

“What if the cord snaps? Can it hold?”
“It’s strong enough. People have used microphone cords to escape burning buildings.”

Lee Jung-woo stroked his chin, considering the plan. After a moment, he nodded. “Alright. We’ll clear the fourth and third floors first, as Jae-hyung suggested. Any objections?”

The group nodded in agreement.

Lee Jung-woo checked everyone’s weapons and continued, “To get to the fourth floor, we need to use the main staircase. Jin-young, Wan-soo, and I will clear the hallway on the fourth floor. The rest of you watch the stairs.”

After moving the boxes at the bottom of the barricade, we exited one by one. I set my phone alarm for three minutes later and walked to the window.

To avoid my phone breaking on impact, I threw it into the flower bed in front of the student union building. With the volume on max, the noise from the building should be drowned out.

After throwing the phone, I turned to the group and said, “Once the alarm goes off, we move.”

Everyone looked tense.

During the short three minutes, silence enveloped us as we strained our ears for the alarm.

Beep-beep-beep—Good morning—ba-ba-ba-ba!

Grrraaaahh!

Soon, the sound of zombies shuffling and growling reached us from outside.

Without missing that moment, I quickly lit the fire cracker and threw it through the gap between the stair railings.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!

As the cracker fell to the first floor with a loud noise, the zombies on each floor were seen moving down to the first floor.

Everything went as expected.

Lee Jung-woo signaled to move after seeing the zombies heading down the stairs.

He quickly headed to the connection between the 5th and 4th floors.

In the distance, I could see figures wandering the 4th-floor hallway.

Zombies limping aimlessly.

Humans could hear the alarm and the explosion of the stun grenade, but the zombies in the center of the 4th-floor hallway seemed oblivious to the sounds.

As expected, the zombies’ senses had not yet evolved.

Roughly seven.

Lee Jung-woo took a quick glance at the stairs leading to the 3rd floor and began signaling.

He covered his eyes with his right index and middle fingers, then pointed down while extending three fingers.

Does that mean there are three below?

I nodded and pulled out the hunting knife from my leg holster.

We needed to move as one.

Once we entered the 4th-floor hallway, zombies would rush from the stairs to the 3rd floor.

Lee Jung-woo took a few deep breaths, inhaled sharply, and headed toward the 4th-floor hallway.

The zombies on the 4th floor heard Lee Jung-woo’s footsteps and turned around simultaneously, growling in unison.

My role was to stop the zombies coming from the 3rd floor.

The zombies on the 3rd-floor stairs also began to look this way upon hearing the growls.

Kahaak!!

I gripped the handle of my knife tightly and swung it at the approaching zombie’s throat.

Swoosh—

The clean slice of the neck.

The sharpness of the hunting knife cleanly severing the vocal cords.

Just as I was about to swing the hunting knife at another zombie approaching from the right…

Thud!

Choi Hyun’s katana pierced the zombie’s eye.

As soon as Choi Hyun pierced the zombie’s eye, he kicked the creature’s upper body with his left foot.

The zombie following behind was shoved back and fell over the one with the pierced eye.

I widened my eyes, adjusted my grip on the hunting knife, and hurriedly descended the stairs to stab the eye of the zombie below.

In an instant, I took down three zombies and looked over at the stairs leading to the 3rd floor.

Even with a rough estimate, there were more than ten zombies in the 3rd-floor hallway.

Clack! Kahaak!!

The zombies on the 3rd floor spotted me and began to rush this way.

Five, six, seven.

Zombies were crowding between the 3rd and 4th floors.

Choi Hyun and Seol Ye-won rushed to my side and formed a defensive line.

Focusing on the pounding of my heart and the tension spreading through my body, we handled the zombies in perfect unison.

Kuhhh!!

While piercing their eyes was a sure way to take them down, it was inefficient when facing multiple opponents.

We needed to aim for the neck.

To maintain our balance, I lifted my left hand as if guarding, and with my right hand, I continuously swung the hunting knife.

One thing to be careful of was that zombies with severed necks often didn’t die immediately and could remain alive for 20 to 30 seconds.

We had to be careful not to get bitten by the fallen ones.

Since we had the advantage of height, our movements became more concise and required less physical effort.

The zombies consumed by instinct charged forward with their faces up, making it easier to decapitate them.

The problem was with Choi Hyun.

With Seol Ye-won and me on either side, Choi Hyun, using his long katana, had many restrictions on his movements.

Unable to swing freely, he was only able to thrust repeatedly.

“Damn it—!”

At that moment, I heard Choi Hyun groan beside me.

Casting a glance at Choi Hyun, I saw that his katana was stuck in a zombie’s skull, unable to pull it out.

Choi Hyun grimaced as he kicked at the zombie to free his katana.

Thud.

At that moment, the falling zombie grabbed Choi Hyun’s leg.

Seeing that, I felt a strange sensation as time seemed to stretch like taffy.

I was already struggling to deal with the zombie in front of me, and I had no time to help Choi Hyun.

“Grab him!”

As I shouted to the crowd, I could see the force pulling Choi Hyun’s upper body backward.

Turning my head slightly, I saw Yoon Hye-ri rushing over to pull Choi Hyun back.

As Choi Hyun fell backward with Yoon Hye-ri, a gap formed in our defensive line.

To fill Choi Hyun’s spot, I stepped to the right, and Seol Ye-won, who was on my right, stepped left in tandem.

It seemed Seol Ye-won was also keeping an eye on Choi Hyun.

Kahaak!

A zombie leaning against the left wall charged at me with its eyes wide open.

Quickly, I pushed its jaw with my left arm and stabbed its eye with the hunting knife in my right hand.

The zombie that bit my left arm fell to the ground, spewing thick blood.

Just how sharp were its teeth that a part of the tape wrapping my arm tore, causing a 2 cm thick book to fall loose?

Using my arm as a shield was now too dangerous.

Was the 4th floor still not cleared?

With my eyes wide open, I scanned the 4th floor and spotted Jeon Wan-soo running towards me.

He was vigorously waving his right arm, signaling me to come up.

Seol Ye-won seemed to notice this too, taking a step back.

There were still five zombies left.

We had to move before more came.

“Everyone up.”

I heard Choi Hyun’s voice from behind.

He held the katana with both hands, looking determined.

Having just escaped death moments ago, he didn’t seem scared but rather angry.

Due to the nature of the katana, he couldn’t swing freely with people around him, so he probably wanted us not to get in the way while he moved up.

But how could I leave him behind and escape?

I took a few steps back, keeping an eye on Choi Hyun.

Having only been thrusting until now, Choi Hyun adjusted his grip on the katana as if practicing kendo and swiftly approached the zombies.

His movements were graceful.

Fast and precise attacks.

He had mentioned he was a kendo prospect in the past, and his stance wielding the sword was impressive.

Kahaak!

However, fighting zombies was a different issue than fighting humans.

As a zombie lost its leg and fell to the ground, it lunged at Choi Hyun’s ankle with its teeth.

Just as I was about to rush to Choi Hyun’s side in a hurry.

Thud!

The katana in Choi Hyun’s hand traced a beautiful arc in the air and struck straight at the zombie’s temple.

Had he already anticipated it?

The zombie, with its temple pierced, died without even letting out a final scream.

Choi Hyun twisted the blade as he pulled it out, and in the same motion, he slashed the zombie in front of him diagonally.

As if bamboo was being cut, the zombie’s upper and lower halves were neatly separated.

Following that, he drew the zombie’s neck, which had lost its lower half, toward his chest, slicing it off cleanly.

Swift and decisive.

In an instant, he took down five zombies, and Choi Hyun exhaled a breath filled with the air he had held inside.